High-resolution optical orbital angular momentum sorter based on Archimedean spiral mapping

Abstract

We propose a generalized spiral transformation scheme that is versatile to incorporate various types of spirals such as the Archimedean spiral and the Fermat spiral. Taking advantage of the equidistant feature, we choose the Archimedean spiral mapping and demonstrate its application in high-resolution optical orbital angular momentum (OAM) mode sorting. Experimental results show 90% efficiency and cross-talk of -8.78 dB that is sufficient to separate adjacent OAM modes. This generalized transformation scheme may also find various applications in optical transformation and can be easily extended to other fields related to conformal mapping.